Die Hochstraße in Halle (Saale)

With the elevated highway in Halle (Saale) this work focuses on a subject representing a social and urbanistic conflict. The probably most controversial testimony of the Socialist modernism in the city of Halle is representative for a debate on how can be dealt with urban relics of a deemed historical epoch. The work aims not only to depict a possible development for this place, but also to trace a historical development that has resulted in a social conflict. Our position is to approve the urban/historical/cultural value of the flyover. It is placed on the attempt to defuse the existing social conflict and to provide a modern, sustainable, resource-saving solution. The work is split in two parts, analysis and concept. The analytical part, labeled Between fantasies of demolition and indispensability, outlines some flyover projects designed and implemented in the twentieth century, turning then to the history of the city of Halle. The third part of the analysis is focused on the elevated highway itself and its background. Here the question is asked whether the construction of the highway can be explained with traffic requirements only or which other reasons therefor can be found. This is followed by an examination of the contemporary, social debate about the flyover. A report from a stroll along the elevated highway, which aims to provide personal impressions of the situation around, is completing of the analysis part. The conceptual part, labeled Laboratory for another kind of mobility, shows a process-oriented aggregation of different ideas for a temporary and continuous display of the flyover. Here, a modified understanding of mobility away from the purely technical aspects plays an important role. The concept is structured in three thematic fields of action, as well as in four temporal stages. In these fields and stages various projects are explained. In addition, statements about the control of the laboratory are made. The aim of the laboratory is to preserve the flyover as a relic and memory of a bygone future in order to create the ability to renegotiate its future from a different perspective.